Building Trust

Welcome back to partner yoga. My name is Scott. This is Jodi. This next session we're going to lead you through a more rigorous practice, a lot more movement, a lot more poses where one person is doing a pose and the other person is assisting a pose. Another number of the poses that we're going to go toward are in the category of backbends. Backbends, just in their nature if you think about the shape that you create, are opening the heart. And so effectively through this practice we're presenting to each other an open heart, getting deeper into the expression and the light of our own heart, creating that shape in our body literally and also figuratively in the way that we play with each other, sharing experience, sharing smiles, facing each other with an open heart, facing the world with an open heart. We'll begin facing one another, hands at our heart, and already from here acknowledging each other's presence. There's a light that we can see shine in each other's heart and our fingers are like rays of light cast from our heart to reach finger. Feeling grateful for this practice that we're going to share, smiles, laughter. And that way of sharing will also share a gentle sound of our voice. We'll share the sound of om as an offering to each other. Gently open your eyes. Now to take risks and step back, hinge at the hips and take a forward fold. We're holding the hands too, not too strong, just strong enough to keep a firm connection that you want slide from. Once you create this shape, lean away from each other actively. Allow the counterbalance of each other's weight to help to open the shoulders and lengthen the spine. As you stay longer you might find that you can both pull a little bit harder. It's not as if one person's trying to pull the other one over, you're just helping each other find a deeper stretch. This will be very helpful for some of the hard opening poses that we do later to get the shoulders to warm up right from the get go. And then looking forward, we'll come up part wet, hold right wrist to right wrist, hinge at the hips again, straight arms, outer right hip pulls back, lift the right armpit up, look under the right arm, straight arms, and pull away from each other again. Get a stretch along the whole side of the shoulder. A couple more breaths here. The left knee can be bent, the elbow and the knee like a kickstand. And then look at each other, don't let go, and then switch hands. Left arm straightens, straight arm, lift the left shoulder up, pull your partner to get a nice stretch on that side. Outer left hip draws away, open the whole top line of the body, which is the right side, the left side here. Good, and then look up. Good. Now we're going to do something a little bit more dynamic. This is going to build a little bit more heat in the body, and also again warming up the shoulders in the back. So each time we face each other, it's going to be an inhale. We'll take one wrist to one wrist, so right wrist to right wrist, same arm. That's the inhale, and then with the exhale, bend the knees, pull away from each other, turn our left chest away, left arm stretches. That was the exhale, then inhale, reach up, look at each other, change hands, bend the knees, lean away, open the other shoulder, and then just keep going. And once you get into it, it becomes a nice fluid dance. Just moving with the breath. It also seems to just naturally speed up. You don't even have to say anything. It becomes more dynamic, building more heat. We'll do this for a few more rounds.

If you feel very brave, you could try doing this with your eyes closed. That will build a lot of trust. And then we'll slowly slow down, and then come back up. Thank you. Now for this next sequence, we're going to do a series of sun salutations, a classical sun salutation. And through this whole sequence, there'll be one person doing the pose, and I'll call that person partner A, and one person assisting that person, I'll call that person partner B. And it'll be a dance between doing each pose with a breath and assistance being given at the finish of each pose. So partner A, the doing partner, will start at the top of the mat, facing away. Partner B will stand behind the partner A, just like a sun salutation. So partner A, inhale, reach your arms to the sky. And B will come to the outer shoulders and help lengthen partner A all the way up to the arms, fingers to touch the sky. You can even stay a few extra breaths in each of these poses to start out with. And then partner A, exhale, hinge at the hips and forward fold. I stay behind partner A, place my hands right on the outer hips, really lined up with the legs, help to bring the person so that the hips are right over the ankles, and then I ground down through the outer hips. And that should help partner A feel that they can release into a deeper forward fold, the deeper Uttanasana here. And then I release the hands. Partner A is going to bring your hands flat to the floor and step back into a plank pose. Partner B steps back to hold the ankles. Now pause here. I'm going to pull a little bit on the ankles that will cause partner A to tighten up, to really tighten up the core muscles and feel strength through the whole body as she lowers exhale through Chaturanga, and then all the way to the floor. Then she points her toes. A is going to come into a cobra. I line up my knees with the bottom half of the shoulder blades, and I bring my hands, my palms, right to the front of the arm bones, right at the front of the humerus. And I help A to roll open the chest over my knees. And partner A, Jodhi, you can let your head go back. Beautiful. And then from here it's going to come right into downward-facing dog. So with the exhale, A comes into downward-facing dog. B comes toward the hand side of the body, finds the sacrum, and presses back. Presses away toward the back and down through the legs. And it should also feel like a wonderful release. And partner A can reach the heels all the way toward the floor. Excellent. And then from here, A is going to step your right foot forward, come into a low lunge. Back knee comes to the floor. A is going to reach your arms up over your head. And B, you're going to help the wrists, hold the wrists, and help guide the hands right to the back of the neck. A can interlace your fingers behind the neck. Now here too, I'm not right up against partner A. I step back and create enough space between the back of partner A and myself such that she can lean back as much as she wants, shoulders back, even head back. And as much as I draw my head back, that helps to lengthen her arms and gives her a nice shoulder stretch. I use my hands at the back of her shoulder blades to support her heart from behind. And then release the hands, hands come to the floor. Partner A steps back to dog pose again. I help lengthen out the dog pose, hands on the sacrum firm, lengthen back through the legs, lengthen the spine. And now second side, left foot steps forward partner A, back knee on the earth, help guide the hands to the back of the neck, interlace the fingers there, leave space to lean back. She can take her head back and open her heart to the sky. And then hands come back to the floor. And this time A is going to take a big step forward, line up the feet, come back into that forward fold. And I'll assist holding the outer hips and rooting down into the earth. And take even a couple more breaths there, enjoy the release that this gives to the low back, through the strength of the legs grounded into the earth. And then inhale, partner A will rise up. Again I'll help her to lengthen all the way up toward the sky, reach to the fingers, and then back to the heart. So that's one full sequence. And we're going to do that sequence for each other a total of three times. So now I'm going to be partner A, the doing partner, and Jody is going to be partner B, the assisting partner. So I'll step to the front of the mat as partner A. Jody will step right behind me as partner B. I'm going to inhale and reach my arms up, partner A reaches up. B takes that moment to help A lengthen up to the sky. Try to touch the fingers all the way to the sky above. And then with the exhale, partner A is going to fold forward. B is going to bring hands right to the outer hips. And as best she can she's going to bring her weight up and down through my legs. That really helps me to release into the forward fold. And then A will place the hands flat and step back to a plank pose like an upper push-up. B is going to come to the ankles. B will give a little bit of a tug to the ankles and that's going to make A tone up. Makes the legs work, belly work. Create one long plank line that you preserve as you exhale and go through chaturanga, leaving with your heart. Coming all the way to the earth, then A is going to point the toes and set up for cobra. So coming up, B is going to come to the back, line up the knees with the lower half of the shoulder blades, hands to the front of the shoulders, and help curl over head back. You might even share a smile here. And then keeping the hands on the earth, I'm going to come back into downward-facing dog. In all these poses too, you know, feel free to stay a little bit longer than we are here in this video and also communicate. You can say to your partner a little bit more, a little bit less, adjust where the hands are or wherever the pressure is. Take an opportunity to really even be creative, to explore if your partner how in each of these shapes you can find a deeper pose, a deeper assist. And then from downward dog, I'm going to step my right foot forward, back knee on the earth. B will come back behind and help me to find the hands to the back of the neck.

Watch out too, let B guide the hands. You don't want to poke your partner in the face with a finger. And then she supports the back of the shoulders and I lean back and she takes her head back and open my heart to the sky. And then I'll release and step back again to downward dog. Partner B again can lengthen out the downward dog. And from here, A is going to step the left foot forward, back knee to the earth. B helps guide the hands to the back of the neck. And B2 can be back a little bit to allow space for A to really lean back and take the head back. A's hands are on the back of the shoulders to help support the lift of the heart. And then releasing the hands back to the floor. A does a big step forward, places the feet evenly and bows in. B is going to root the outer hips to the earth again. It feels really good. Some of you there are very creative in arm balances, could contemplate jumping up, doing something like a crow pose or a firefly, just balancing on your partner's hips. You can leave that for another time. And then inhale, rise to the sky. Back to the heart. You can kind of imagine too, it's easy to just be creative in all of these shapes. Spend more time in each of them, take them into different shapes, different standing poses. Do what feels fun, what makes you smile, both you and your partner. So we're going to do that same sequence for each other two more times. So again Jody will become the doing partner, partner A. I'll be the assisting partner, partner B. So A will inhale and reach the arms to the sky. And I'll help her to get long as she grounds through her feet and reaches to the sky. And then A exhales and forward folds. Help her to bring her hips right over her ankles and ground her into the earth. And then A, replace the hands to step back to plank pose. I'll hold the ankles, give a little bit of a tug. She exhales, lowers down, leading with her heart. Comes into cobra. I come back, knees to the back of the shoulder blades, lower half. Hands right to the front of the shoulders for the first part. And I help her roll back. She can take her head back, her throat back, face the world with an open heart. And then downward facing dog. I step out of the way, come to the hand side. I use my back foot pushing down to help me press into her sacrum. And then from here with an inhale she can step the right foot forward, low lunge, anjana asana. I guide her hands to the back of my neck. I leave space to let her lean back, take her head back. My hands are to the back of her shoulders, right at her shoulder blades. It's like my hands are hugging the back of her heart, lifting her heart to the sky. And then hands come back to the earth, step back to dog pose to change sides. And I'll give her again a lengthening through the downward dog. Left foot steps forward, back knee on the earth, guide the hands to the back of the neck. As I take my head back too, that helps her to lengthen her arms and open her shoulders. Again, my hands are on her back of her shoulders, giving her heart a lift from behind. The hands come back to the earth, big step forward, line up the feet, ground the outer hips into the earth, and inhale rise. Reach for the stars, grab a star, and bring it back to your heart. And then we'll switch again. Again, I'm the doing partner, partner A, and Jodi will this time be the partner B, assisting. So A, it's going to inhale and reach up, look through the stars, exhale, hinge at the hips, forward fold. If you need to keep your knees bent just a little bit, if your hamstrings are tight, so that you can get your fingers to the floor, that's perfectly fine. Do you feel the grounding of your partner, the assisting partner, helping you though to release the hamstrings? Then A will bring the hands flat, step back to plank pose. B comes down to the ankles, gives a little tug at the ankles as I reach forward through my heart, and lower. Heart goes forward as I lower toward the earth. Point my toes, inhale into a back bend, cobra, head back, share a smirk, and downward facing dog. B will help to lengthen up the downward dog. You can see as you start to get used to this, it really starts to become like a dance, kind of like a yoga tango or whatever dance you like, flowing from one pose to the other, one person assisting the other through the whole sequence. I'll step my right foot forward, back knee on the earth, guide the hands to the back of the head, neck, hand support the back of the shoulders, and lift up toward the sky, and then hands to the earth, downward dog, the exhale. I keep my hands lined up, fingers rooted into the earth, lengthen my spine with the assistance of my partner, and then left foot steps forward, partner A, back knee to the earth, lift the heart, hands to the back of the shoulders, supporting the back of the shoulder blades, heart to the sky, and hands come back to the earth. Big step forward, lining up the feet, exhale to bow in, and inhale, rise, grow tall, partner helping to lengthen you up to the sky, and bring it back to your heart, acknowledging that heart connection. One more time, each person. This time flowing just more with the cycle of breath, so A, inhale, rise, and B, lengthen your partner, exhale, fold, B, ground outer hips into the earth, with the inhale, step back plank pose, B holds the ankles, exhale through chaturanga, inhale into the back bend, take an extra breath here, curl back, head back, exhale, downward facing dog, lengthen out the dog pose for your partner, and then the right foot steps forward, back knee on the earth, help guide the hands to the back of the neck, my hands come to the back, upper back right at the shoulder blades, supporting and lifting the heart, and hands comes to the earth, step back dog pose again, lengthen out the downward dog, and left foot steps forward, back knee on the earth, and reach out, lean back, lengthen back, back knee stays grounded into the earth, hands come back to the earth, big step forward, ground the outer hips to the earth, bow in deeper, and with the inhale, rise, reach for the stars, and back to the heart, back to the source. One more time, just flowing with the breath now, A, inhale, and reach up, keep strong through the legs, exhale, fold, lead with your heart as you fold, place the hands, step back to a plank pose, inhale, strength here, exhale, stretch forward, reach forward as you come down, point the toes, come into your back bend, cobra, and downward facing dog with the exhale, with the inhale, step the right foot forward, low lunge, back knee on the earth, guide the hands to the back of the neck, should start to feel more open here, maybe you can lean back more, curl back into your heart, and stay deep in the lunge, release the hands back to the earth, step back to chain sides, and then stretching downward dog, and left foot comes forward, back knee on the earth, and hands back to the earth, step forward, lining up the feet, exhaling, bowing in deep, and then rise to the sky one more time, take it back to that light in your heart, thank you, okay, now we're going to do some individual poses, working for it again, shoulder opening, heart opening poses, helping each other into each of these poses, the first one is a kind of a backpack, one person is going to be pulled up onto your back to give a nice shoulder opener, so we're going to line up back to back, now I'm going to pull her over, so I'm going to take my arms to the inside of her elbows, and link her arms, now another thing too about differences in height, I want to be able to feel like I'm going to get kind of underneath her, so because I'm a little bit taller, what I'm going to do is bend my knees, and bring my sacrum lower than her knees, she keeps her legs straight at the beginning, so I feel like I'm coming underneath her, and she can lean back, take her head back too, then I just give a little bit of a pull, for this first one the feet's going to just stay on the floor, and I'm just helping her to come over my back, and she should feel mostly just a shoulder opener, chest opener, should feel good, she'll feel like she can take deep breaths into her chest, and open her ribs, then I come back up, she's going to do that for me now, so we're going to change the position of arms, my feet are going to stay on the floor, she's already a little bit underneath me, but I lean back into that, she pulls my arms a little bit, it feels like a wonderful stretch to the shoulders, and then inhale back up, now this next one is taking this a little bit further, now if you're a little bit worried about height differences, size differences, worrying about balance, maybe you won't try this for this next one right away, maybe it'll kind of play with going in that direction, maybe just the person who's taller or larger will lift the other person, and you won't do it with the other person, whatever feels good, whatever is playful, so we're going to switch arms again, same idea, she keeps her legs straight, but I'm going to bend my knees to come up underneath her, she will lean back, and this time I take her so far over that her feet leave the earth, and I can straighten my legs, once I straighten my legs too, it actually feels like very little weight at all, all the weight of her body is through my sacrum and grounded through my legs, doesn't feel like I'm holding much weight at all, a couple things you can do here, so she'll keep her feet heavy toward the floor, I'll guide her hands over her head, give her another little shoulder stretch in a different direction, what you can also do here if you're feeling playful, is do what's like a bow pose, donarasana, she'll let her feet hang, I'll help her find her feet, once she's got her ankle she can stretch her feet toward the floor even more, that's it, I can bring my fingertips to the floor to help with balance and stability, again this is just totally playful, everything's optional, this feels like something that you can do safely and with smiles and laughter, and go for it, let this practice be playful, I think that laughter should be as much a part of your practice as anything that you do, then she'll release her feet again, will link arms, and I'll bend my knees a little bit, lift my heart to bring her softly back to the floor, cool, good, okay now we're going to do a little shoulder stretch here, that is for opening the heart in even a different direction, so Jodi is going to come to her hands and knees facing your head that way, that's it, coming a little bit more toward the center of the mat, and then come all the way down to your elbows and interlace your fingers, so elbows are just about shoulder distance apart, fingers interlace and the whole length of the forearm is grounded into the earth, into this she can actually soften her heart, let her heart melt for the earth, then she'll curl her toes under, lift her knees, now she's still arched back and that's good, she's leaning with an angle from her elbows back toward her feet, I'm going to come down on one knee, place one hand on each shoulder blade and then just give a little bit of a pressure, she looks forward, she's not trying to fight this, she's trying to go with the stretch, this is a good one too for getting feedback, it doesn't really take very much to get a really deep stretch here, I'm just giving a gentle pressure and kind of feeling her relax into it, I'm not trying to force the stretch at all, and your partner can say more or less or come out at any point, cool, and then looking forward and we're just going to switch here, so she'll do the stretch for me, again I come down to the knees, come down to the forearms, elbows are only shoulder distance apart and I soften my heart toward the floor, then with my toes curled under, lift my knees up and angle back, I'll push my forearms a little bit down and forward, now place your hands more to the back of my shoulder blades, there you go, and she just gives a little bit of pressure and I go with it, for every exhale you might find a deeper release, I look forward a little bit and I really think about my upper back moving into my body and she's helping me to create that, good, and then I'll come back to view, for this next stretch Jodi will come to lay on your belly, if your head facing that way, and then bend your knees, so I'll help her to make her shins perpendicular to the floor, she flexes her ankles and she's made a little stool now for me to sit on, so sit on her feet and I'll walk my feet a little bit more forward, so I feel more stable and I also can help her to ground her legs into the floor, it's going to feel nice when we do the back bend, she'll reach back with her hands, hold my wrists, the only thing that she's really going to do actively is help to align her shoulders, so she'll shrug a little bit, draw her shoulder blades on to her back, that's all she needs to do, I'm going to do the rest of the work for her, I keep my arms straight, my arms plugged into my shoulders and I start to lean back a little bit and that lifts her off the floor, and this is another one you can ask your partner, would you like to come up higher, and she's good right there, that's totally fine, whatever feels good, I'll stay here for a couple more breaths, now the key thing in this and coming out of the pose, I'm not going to just let go, that would be bad, I want to just gently bring her heart back to the earth and we'll change sides, so I lay on my belly, knees bent, feet flexed, now here I can lift a little bit higher, so Jodi can already kind of think ahead there and maybe reach past my wrists a little bit further up my arm, so when she leans back she doesn't lean, have to lean back as far, and she comes up slowly, the more that she can put weight into my feet, it's helpful for me too, and she can come up a little higher, and you're just sensitive to your partner, not trying to force any of the shapes, even feeling their breath in each of the shapes, and if each exhale maybe go a little deeper, excellent, and then she slowly lowers me back to the floor, and we come all the way down, good, so one more like that, similar, just a little bit different, more like full bow pose, donarasana, come to lay on your belly, this time she'll come to hold her feet herself, so she holds the top of her feet, rolls her shoulders open, okay, and then what I will do is hold her heels, and she lifts up, and I give her a little pull, and just helps her to go a little deeper into the pose, I can put my ankles where her knees are, to make sure the knees don't go wide, give her a little bit more of a heart opener, that should feel really good, now if she stays here, here's one that's a little bit more crazy, is I will step to the inside of her arms, feet lined up with her hips, I'm gonna hold her heels, she'll come into the pose again, I have my knees bent, I'm thinking about keeping my back strong, rolling my shoulders open, she keeps a good grip on her feet, and then maybe as I straighten my legs, using my legs, I can lift her off the floor, maybe just for a breath, give her a little sway, and then bring her back to the earth, cool, and release there, now I'm not expecting her to do that for me, I weigh a little bit more than she does, but she can work on that first part with me, so what I'm going to do is hold my ankles with my feet flexed, she can hold the back of my heels, and just lengthen me away, this opens more the front chest and the shoulders, the other shape of bow pose gets more into the lower back and spine, and bring me back to the earth, and we release there, again all these poses, you know pick and choose the ones that feel really good, feel free to pause the video at any point, and do a pose another time, maybe stay a little bit longer, go a little bit deeper each time, now come to laying on your back, head this way, so spin all the way around, head this way, there you go, now we're going to do wheel pose, urdvadhanarasana, could you slide a little bit that way, cool, so in wheel pose or urdvadhanarasana, where the hands would go, that's where I'm going to put my feet, so I line up my feet with the top of her shoulders, her feet are in, so that she can bring her feet flat, pretty close to her hips, now she's going to take her hands and hold the front of my ankles, right at the top of the feet, so I help her, shoulder blades come on to her back, and she watches too that her elbows don't come too wide, that she's really strongly connected from her hands, and plugged in on her shoulders, she lifts her hips up, and I can start to bring her my hands the top of her shoulders, and help her come into the full pose, so I'm helping to make it easier for her, she can start to straighten her arms, even lean away from me, and I'm supporting her, so it doesn't take as much strength, and my hands are in a place too, where it feels like a wonderful shoulder opening support, now a really playful thing that you can do from here, I'm going to bend my knees, and one at a time she's going to put her hands on my knees, and I hold her the whole time, so she's not going to fall, she starts to lift up, keeps her head back, I switch my hands to the inside, she keeps her head back, and I help her all the way up to standing, which is a really wonderful way to learn that pose of thinking about coming up to standing from a wheel pose, with the assistance of a partner makes it easy, okay, and she's going to do the same thing for me, for just that first part, again I line up my feet, solid into the earth, she's going to place her feet where my hands would be, a little bit wider, there you go, I hold the top of the feet, so my hands are such that I can push into her ankles, but more importantly also push down into the earth, I'm not trying to tip her over when I come up, so I lift my hips up, I can take a moment on the top of my head too, to readjust, so I come here, plug in my shoulders, roll into my heart, she's holding the top of my shoulders, we come all the way up, and even if you already have a deep backbend, this feels wonderful, just to have the support of your partner, a couple more breaths here, and then she can help me come all the way back to the earth, and come on down, thank you very much, and then from here, one more playful pose, okay, this one's again just for fun, it's a beautiful fun shape that you create, and this is going to be also key too, that the, it might be the taller person will be just the one doing it on the bottom, and the person who's not as tall being the person on top, but you can try it, it's wonderful fun, you can play somewhere like in a park, on a grassy surface, so that if you do slide off of each other, you fall onto the grass, and just pull the grass out of your hair and clothes, and nothing goes wrong, so I'm in a downward dog, she's gonna slide onto my back, and place her hands on the floor, on either side of my shoulders, she's letting all of her weight and her chest come into my back, and then she can start to curl her feet up over her head, if only for a breath or two, and create a scorpion shape, okay, there we go, we'll slide off from there, that's wonderful playtime, now we're gonna just work on helping each other do the counter poses, the back bend shapes that we did, it's a nice releasing for the low back, so come into a child's pose, for a child's pose, for this one, big toes stay together, but separate your knees, let the knees separate enough so that you don't feel compression in your belly, that you can just let the low back release, the torso soften toward the earth, giving lots of space there, then I'm gonna place both hands on the sacrum, and I lengthen into the earth, and back toward me, a little bit out to the side, really expanding the length of the low back, you can spend quite a few breaths here, it's a wonderful relaxing release, I can also place one hand on one side of the sacrum, other hand on the back of the shoulder, give a kind of diagonal stretch, and do the other side, should feel really good, and then she'll do that for me, again big toes together, knees a little bit separated, arms forward, and she can place hands on either side of the sacrum, it's really helped me to release and let go of any tension that might be left over from the back bends, and the work that we did earlier, excellent, let's come up to seated, and Jodi why don't you come to sit in front of me, and we'll just finish with a gentle twist, sitting cross-legged, coming up all the way knees to knees, I like the seated twist, you feel you feel connected to your partner, and it's a wonderful way to help end the practice, so I'll take my right hand to the outer left hip, she'll do the same, the opposite arm crosses the low back, and you clasp hold of fingers or wrists, inhale sitting up tall, and exhale twisting away, something you can add to this too is roll the top shoulders back even more, even take your head back, feel a little bit like you're curling over the arm that's across your low back, opening your hearts of the sky, and then inhale back to center, and we'll change sides, every breath lengthening through the spine, rolling open the shoulders, and then exhale opening to a deeper twist, heart turning to the sky, and then inhale back to center, now a simple little partner Shavasana, we're going to do here, and I'll show you a little detail that will feel really nice if one of the two of you have a little bit of a sore back, and it's hard for you to have your legs all the way straight and laying on the floor, so I'll take my legs out first, and then what Jody is going to do is bring the back of her knees on top of my knees, and so she gets that little bend to her knees, which can feel really nice in the low back if you felt like you got some work there, and needed to keep the knees bent a little bit in your Shavasana, here the arms can be just by the side, or you can hold your partner's ankles, and feel that connection of energy, just let yourself relax into this, through this continuing connection to your partner, feel grateful, share the light in your heart, helping each other present a bright open heart to each other, and to all the people that you connect hearts with in your life, and feel free to spend as long as you want, just right here.